Key freight line in France to reopen 10 days earlier than expected

After being closed since 11 January due to a freight train derailing, the railway line leading to the port of Cherbourg, in northern France, will partially reopen on 5 February, said Pierre Sablier from SNCF Réseau Normandie. The new date is a little earlier than the previous estimation of mid-February, which should be good news for rail freight services.

Traffic will restart on one track now that cleanup operations have been completed. The other one, where the derailed train was running, was significantly damaged and will require around six more weeks before traffic can fully restart, hopefully in mid-March. Sablier pointed out that 550 metres of line need to be rebuilt, the catenary will be replaced along 1,250 metres together with one switch and the area around the line will be reinforced for 700 metres.

Traffic at a standstill

On 11 January, a freight train operating Brittany Ferries’ rail highway service between Cherbourg and Bayonne derailed near Carentan. The accident led to the full closure of the Cherbourg-Caen line, paralysing rail freight services to the port of Cherbourg. As an alternative, Brittany Ferries shipped the cargo coming from the UK to Bilbao instead, and then moved it by rail to the French Basque Countries. SNCF Réseau initially evaluated the damage at around 10 million euros.